Many sports require the wearing of a helmet, hat, cap or the like. In many sports the head wear is secured onto the competitor's head by the use of a chin strap. However in some sports, for example in western horsemanship including reining, cutting, roping and barrel racing, competitors conventionally wear so-called cowboy hats without the use of a snug chin strap which would otherwise detract from the look. Thus those competitor's find that at high speed, the cowboy hats are lifted from the competitor's heads by the apparent wind due to their forward movement catching underneath the forward brim of the hat and thereby peeling the hat backwards. It is consequently an object of the present invention to provide a sweatband for use in cowboy hats and other hat styles which increases both the frictional traction holding the hat on a wearer's head and the comfort of the hat.
The prior art of which applicant is aware is replete with modified sweatband designs, the following referenced being a selection from such prior art:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,186,316 which issued Jun. 6, 1916 for a Hat to Holmes discloses providing the exposed face of a sweatband with means preferably in the form of rubber surfaces adapted to frictionally engage the head of the wearer in such a manner as to firmly hold the hat upon the head, wherein, in one embodiment, the exposed surface of the sweatband is depressed at intervals to form slight projections extending above its inner surface into engagement with the hat. Thin sheet rubber is secured to the exposed surface of the sweatband in registry with the depressions. When the hat is placed firmly upon the head, the hat exerts a pressure on the projections and thus causes the sections or pieces to be brought into firm and frictional engagement with the head of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,698,434, which Jan. 4, 1955 to Davia for a Baseball Cap, discloses a sweatband made of resilient foam rubber by molding the sweatband to have a series of outward projections which are spaced apart and distributed entirely around the inside of the band so as to cause the cap to cling to the head, the sponge rubber sweatband being quite thick so as to absorb the shock of a blow against the outside of the cap.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,748 which issued Feb. 9, 1965 to Limberg for a Hat with Power Cooling teaches a sweatband which is channelled to receive a sponge which extends circumferentially of the hat to any desired extent. The sweatband is provided with an aperture which may be spanned by loosely woven net or fabric to support the sponge slightly clear of the wearer's forehead.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,516 which issued Apr. 7, 1992 to Scarnato for a System for Ventilating Brow Band Area of a Cap/Sun Visor discloses a sweatband having spaced apart, resiliently, porous, absorbent members removably engaged to an area of the sweatband which would normally engage the forehead of the wearer to space that area of the sweatband away from the forehead.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,248 which issued Mar. 25, 1997, to Young for a Sweatband for a Hat, teaches a sweatband that may be easily inserted and removed from a hat wherein the sweatband includes a flexible retaining strip attached to the inside surface of the hat, wherein one end of the strip is removably attached, a tubular sweatband being mountable around the retaining strip and thereby retained in the hat when the strip is fastened to the hat.